


Bad Code

by wirewrappedlily



Category: Person of Interest (TV)
Genre: Also pro tip: don't overlook the dog, Because dogs will fuck your shit up, Don't hire faceless minions if you go evil., Double and triple check these things, It's way too easy for someone to slip through the cracks if you can't see their face, M/M, The Machine loves her daddy, Things come to a head with Root, and Harold's Achilles heal turns out to be steel-reinforced, and Reese can do anything he sets his mind to, don't let them wear masks.
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-30
Updated: 2013-03-30
Packaged: 2017-12-07 00:26:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/741959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wirewrappedlily/pseuds/wirewrappedlily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Root didn't have a weakness. She was alone in her convictions, and the only thing that could change them was destruction of any and every way she could ever possibly get to The Machine. The problem with Finch was that he did have a weakness. A very big weakness, and it was in the shape of a man. </p><p>A man that had put himself between Finch and danger and would willingly kill anything that dared to threaten Finch. A man that had given Finch a path to walk down that led to redemption for himself as much as it was for the man. A man that gave Finch a companion, and a family, even if the latter was in the shape of a damaged ex-CIA operative and a dog trained to protect whatever the man ordered it to. </p><p>Finch didn't know when he'd lost himself in Reese. When the lines had blurred enough between them that he was willing to die if he couldn't save Reese: just as Reese was willing to die if he couldn't save Finch.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bad Code

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't want to ship them, but I ship them so hard my inner shipper is actually crying. 
> 
> Goddamn you, Reese, you earnest yet sarcastic bastard. 
> 
> Enjoy, my freaky darlings.

Root didn't have a weakness. She was alone in her convictions, and the only thing that could change them was destruction of any and every way she could ever possibly get to The Machine. The problem with Finch was that he did have a weakness. A very big weakness, and it was in the shape of a man. 

A man that had put himself between Finch and danger and would willingly kill anything that dared to threaten Finch. A man that had given Finch a path to walk down that led to redemption for himself as much as it was for the man. A man that gave Finch a companion, and a family, even if the latter was in the shape of a damaged ex-CIA operative and a dog trained to protect whatever the man ordered it to. 

Finch didn't know when he'd lost himself in Reese. When the lines had blurred enough between them that he was willing to die if he couldn't save Reese: just as Reese was willing to die if he couldn't save Finch. 

Finch knew, in a way, what the shape of Root's kidnapping had led to between Reese and The Machine. That he'd be willing to never help another number if Finch wasn't returned to him. It humbled him, really. And it made all the other times Reese had only snapped at Finch's life endangered; never his own, or even that of a number's. Finch never could have foreseen how Reese could have become both his greatest asset and his Achilles' heal. In many ways; there was no Finch without Reese. Reese was the muscle of the operation, the bullet to Finch's gun as it were. But there was a limited use for a gun without a bullet; and Finch knew that he'd tied himself up to Reese in a way that left no room for him to really continue on if something happened to Reese. He could hire another muscle, sure--but it had taken him a long time to find someone who would be able to do what he needed in this job, and Finch highly doubted there was anyone who could do this half as well as Reese did. 

The only saving grace to it all was that Root had to get close to Finch, but couldn't let herself come anywhere near Reese. He was too dangerous by half, and She couldn't risk being taken out so easily by 'bad code'. Finch found himself more often than not thinking that Reese was the best kind of bad code, because he would do whatever he had to to ensure the safety of those he cared for. 

It was only when Root had nothing left to try--no plays left to make--that she stormed Finch's Bastille. 

Reese was completely calm under the barrel of the gun, his features giving nothing away as Root demanded for Finch to set The Machine free. "You care about the shittiest piece of code in the world, Harold! He's nothing more than malware, when you could have the perfect code, the code you locked away in some box underground. When you could have me!" 

"You're wrong, Root. He doesn’t care for me." Reese told her, his voice too steady for Finch's comfort. "What good would caring for me do him? I'm, as you say, bad code: he's the best code there's ever been. What makes you think that he doesn't have The Machine anyway, that it doesn't love him even in its prison? He's the most beloved man I could ever know. I may be bad code, Root, but you're flawed code. In all your perfection, you forgot to look for the heart of the code. You forgot that there even was a heart." With a whine, power shut down through the entire Library, and when the back-up systems booted back up, it was to Bear's teeth at Root's throat and Reese's steady hand pointing her henchman's gun at her head. "The machine gave me Harold's _name_ , Root. Because it knew that I would know what to do when you came, because it loves its creator like I do, and there's not a damn thing that you could do to the greatest defensive asset there has ever been, and no way you could have disabled it. I planted a flaw in The Machine when I refused to help the numbers when you stole him. I wrote it a loophole. And now, it will never let you touch Harold again, because it will always have me to stop you." 

Root sneered, and Bear snarled, his teeth tightening at her throat, "You have no way to stop me, I've already killed you!" She screeched. 

"The poison your minion injected when she grabbed me?" Reese asked calmly. The black-clad figure rose up from the ground behind him, pulling the black helmet off her face. Sam smirked at her, pulling out another gun. "Saline." Two more guns were heard cocking in the bowels of the library, "And that little distraction you put out for Carter and Fusco? I took care of it already." 

Root threw Bear off of her, scrabbling up and grabbing Finch to her, pointing a gun to his head. "What? Did you think you could take me to prison? Did you think--" Reese simply pulled the trigger, and Root screamed, the gun flying from her hand. Reese snagged Finch's sleeve, pulling him out of the line of fire and into his side protectively as Fusco and Carter both shot, just a breath after Reese had. 

Root fell, bleeding out to the floor, as Finch felt Reese's broad hands gently touching over him, checking for wounds. It was painful in a way that Finch had barely known, the care with which Mr. Reese touched him; the gentility in hands that could easily kill. Finch couldn't stop himself before he was collapsing into John's side, the harsh slap of all that had gone on threatening to take his legs out from under him, bad or not. John's hand found the back of his head gently, shifting to tuck Harold's head under his jaw as he hugged him, protective and strong. It stepped over most of the boundaries Harold had set himself, but he couldn't find it in himself to care. "You changed the code." 

"Theoretically. I have no idea. The Machine did give me your name, in any case." 

Finch sighed, closing his eyes, "When?" 

"A week ago. I had to make some preparations, so it came in useful." 

"You guys need to get out of here." Carter told them heavily. 

"The-the equipment--" 

"False. I moved the servers, Finch, had Leon set up a router so that you could access them until I tripped the alarm that cut the power. They're in the loft, safe and sound." 

"Mr. Reese, you did all of this--" 

"I had to." John cut in. "Now, we need to go." John summoned Bear, bending to give him attention for a bare moment, promising his reward once they reached the loft for being such a good boy. "Detective Carter, Fusco...thank you." 

The cops nodded to them, and John helped support Finch as much as Finch would allow him to, joining Sam in leaving the building. "You two make a very good team." Sam commented, "But you're not going to be able to do this forever. Either of you. What happens then?" 

"Honestly, Sam, I have no faith in surviving to the point of retirement. This is one day at a time for me." Reese commented flippantly, missing Finch flinch. 

Sam didn't miss it, though, her dark eyes oddly kind considering she didn't like people of any kind. "You managed to track me down, John, I highly doubt there's much that can take you out." 

"If I hadn't tracked you down, Root would have been at the top of the list of contenders." John looked at her, "Would you consider it, Sam? Would you consider filling this role when I can't?"

"Consider, maybe: agree, probably not. You're only one half of the coin, John, and I don't have someone like Finch here to balance it out." 

"Fair enough." John told her, "But one day, you will." 

Sam paused, thinking about it, "Yeah...maybe I will." 

The drive to John's loft was silent, Sam having left them once the cab pulled up a block away from the Library. Finch couldn't find his tongue about what John had done for him; or about John's having created a contingency plan of his own in Sam. The thought of losing John came with most numbers; the reality came with every dream of not reaching the rooftop of the DoD in time. 

"Mr. Reese, thank you." Finch finally muttered tightly. 

"I may be capable of doing this without you, Finch, but that doesn't mean I'd want to." John answered quietly, gruff voice and all. 

Finch felt himself heating, "What you said...about my being the most beloved man you've ever met?" 

John turned his head to look at his employer, his face trained not to give away a thing, "You built a machine capable of incredible goodness, Harold. And the reason for its goodness is that you created it." 

Finch took John's hand, squeezing it, "Thank you for...loving me enough to save me." 

Reese squeezed back, "I think you'll find, Harold, that I love you enough to save the world. And so does The Machine."


End file.
